Thus, too, Richard Brathwayte, in his poetical epistle “to all true-bred northerne sparks of the generous society of the Cottoneers” (Strappado for the Divell, 1615):
“But haste, my muse, in colours to display
Some auncient customes in their high-roade way,
At least such places labour to make knowne
As former times have honour’d with renowne.
The first whereof that I intend to show
Is merry Wakefield, and her pindar too,
Which fame hath blaz’d with all that did belong,
Unto that towne in many gladsome song,
The pindar’s valour, and how firme he stood
In th’ townes defence ’gainst th’ rebel Robin Hood,
How stoutly he behav’d himselfe, and would,
In spite of Robin, bring his horse to th’ fold,
His many May-games which were to be seene
Yearly presented upon Wakefield greene,
Where lovely Jugge and lustie Tib would go,
To see Tom-lively turne upon the toe;
Hob, Lob, and Crowde the fidler would be there,
And many more I will not speake of here.
Good God! how glad hath been this hart of mine,
To see that towne, which hath, in former time,
So flourish’d and so gloried in her name,
Famous by th’ pindar who first rais’d the same!
Yea, I have paced ore that greene and ore
And th’ more I saw’t I tooke delight the more, {xxviii}
For where we take contentment in a place,
A whole daies walke seemes as a cinquepace.
Yet as there is no solace upon earth
Which is attended evermore with mirth,
But when we are transported most with gladnesse,
Then suddenly our joy’s reduc’d to sadnesse;
So far’d with me to see the pindar gone,
And of those jolly laddes that were not one
Left to survive: I griev’d more then Ile say:
(But now for Bradford I must hast away).
Unto thy task, my muse, and now make knowne
The jolly shoo-maker of Bradford towne,
His gentle craft so rais’d in former time
By princely journey-men his discipline,
Where he was wont with passengers to quaffe,
But suffer none to carry up their staffe
Upon their shoulders, whilst they past through town,
For if they did he soon would beat them downe;
(So valiant was the souter) and from hence
Twixt Robin Hood and him grew th’ difference;
Which, cause it is by most stage-poets writ,
For brevity I thought good to omit.”
In the latter part of this extract, honest Richard evidently alludes to “A pleasant conceyted comedie of George a Greene, the pinner of Wakefield; as it was sundry times acted by the servants of the right honourable the earle of Sussex,” 1599, 4to, which has been erroneously ascribed to Heywood the epigrammatist, and is reprinted, with other trash, in the late edition of Dodsley’s Old Plays; only it unluckily happens that Robin Hood is almost the only person who has no difference with the souter (or shoemaker) of Bradford. The play, in short (or at least that part of it which we have any concern with), is founded on the ballad of Robin Hood and the Pinder of Wakefield (see part ii. song 3), which it directly quotes, and is, in fact, a most despicable performance.[18] King Edward (the Fourth) having taken King James of Scotland prisoner, after a most bloody battle near Middleham Castle, from which of 30,000 Scots not 5000 had escaped, comes with his royal captive in disguise to Bradford, where they {xxix} meet Robin Hood and George a Green, who have just had a stout affray: and after having read this, and a great deal more such nonsensical stuff, Captain Grose sagaciously “supposes that this play has little or no foundation in history;” and very gravely sits down and debates his opinion in form.
“The history of George a Green, pindar of the town of Wakefield,” 4to, no date,[19] is a modern production, chiefly founded on the old play just mentioned, of neither authority nor merit.
Our gallant pinder is thus facetiously commemorated by Drunken Barnaby:
“Hinc diverso cursu, sero
Quod audissem de pindero
Wakefeeldensi; gloria mundi,
Ubi socii sunt jucundi,
Mecum statui peragrare
Georgii fustem visitare.”
“Turning thence, none could me hinder
To salute the Wakefield pindar;
Who indeed is the world’s glory,
With his comrades never sorry.
This was the cause, lest you should miss it,
George’s club I meant to visit.”
“Veni Wakefield peramænum,
Ubi quærens Georgium Greenum,
Non inveni, sed in lignum
Fixum reperi Georgii signum,
Ubi allam bibi feram
Donec Georgio fortior eram.”
“Strait at Wakefield I was seen a,
Where I sought for George a Green a;
But could find not such a creature,
Yet on a sign I saw his feature,
Where strength of ale had so much stir’d me,
That I grew stouter far than Jordie.”
Besides the companions of our hero enumerated in the text, and whose names are most celebrated and familiar, we find those of William of Goldsbrough (mentioned by Grafton), Right-hitting Brand (by Mundy), and Gilbert with the white {xxx}
hand, who is thrice named in the Lyttell Geste of Robyn Hode (i. 52, 71), and is likewise noticed by Bishop Gawin Douglas in his Palice of Honour, printed at Edinburgh in 1579, but written before 1518:
“Thair saw I Maitlaind upon auld Beird Gray,
Robene Hude, and Gilbert with the quhite hand,
How Hay of Nauchton slew, in Madin land.” [20]
As no mention is made of Adam Bell, Clim of the Clough, and William of Cloudeslie, either in the ancient legend or in more than one of the numerous songs of Robin Hood, nor does the name of the latter once occur in the old metrical history of those famous archers reprinted in Percy’s Reliques, and among pieces of ancient popular poetry, it is to be concluded that they flourished at different periods, or at least had no connection with each other. In a poem, however, intitled, “Adam Bell, Clim of the Clough, and young William of Cloudesley, the second part,” 1616, 4to, b. l. (Bib. Bod. Art. L. 71, being a more modern copy than that in Selden C. 39, which wants the title, but was probably printed with the first part, which it there accompanies, in 1605; differing considerably therefrom in several places, and containing many additional verses), are the following lines (not in the former copy):